Clara

Clara by loeswhite featuring patent leather pumps

BARCELONA

I recently took a long weekend trip to the beautiful city of Barcelona and spent five glorious days wandering around in the burning Catalan heat. I've never visited the city before but it's always been top of my visit list and I wasn't disappointed. 

We visited all the main tourist spots including Camp Nou, La Ramblas, Park Guell and Sagrada Familia, which was beautiful beyond words. Barcelona is so pituresque, from the little alleys tucked away in El Gothic, to the Castell du Montjuic up high on the hill overlooking the city. 

On Thursday afternoon we took a walk to the nearby Sagrada Familia (only to find tickets were sold out for the day) and then headed for dinner near our hotel. 

On Friday we took the Metro to Placa Catalunya and strolled down La Ramblas, looked around La Boqueria (and bought obligatory smoothies) and walked up to Casa Batllo to see Gaudi's architecture. In the evening we headed to Placa Espanya for some beautiful tapas and to see the beautiful Font Magica de Montjuic. 

On Saturday we went to the Nou Camp which was really interesting and gave us a chance to take lots of cheesy tourist snaps! We then headed back into town and got the cablecar up the hill to Castell de Montjuic which had some truly amazing views over the city. Around dinnertime we headed to El Gothic to a restaurant I had read about called El Salon which turned out to be one of the nicest meals I have ever eaten in my life! If I go back to Barcelona I will be heading straight there. We then walked to the Cathedral and headed to La Ramblas for some cocktails in Boadas. This bar is really fab - you tell them which spirit you like and they hand craft you a cocktail!

On Sunday we battled our way (it was super hot) up to Gaudi's Park Guell on the hill for some excellent views over Barcelona. In the late afternoon we went back to Sagrada Familia to look around the inside. This was truly amazing (I walked around with my jaw literally dropped) and I recommend it to anyone who visits Barcelona. In the evening we headed to Port Vell for dinner at La Gavina and watched the sunset.

SUMMER STYLE

Summer has finally rolled back around to us and the sun is shining over London which means that everyone is happy (or seems to be), there's no matches being rained off at Wimbledon and every Instagram post from the city is looking bluer than blue. This summer I'm not off on a beach holiday (weep weep) but I will be flying to Barcelona (hooray!) for a little city break at the end of July, which promises to be the hottest week of my life so far. I'm on the lookout for cute summer outfits at the moment and I stumbled over this gorgeous playsuit from Topshop. It looks like the perfect piece for a warm summer evening, assuming it doesn't clash with that pasty girl sunburn that I usually get. 

If anyone has any recommendations for where to go/eat/party in Barcelona then please let me know!

Playsuit from Topshop, Sandals from Office, Bag from Jil Sander

HONEST

Should you ever venture behind the gargantuan Topshop haven on Oxford Street (after spending three hours lost inside) you might just stumble upon something beautiful. That something is called Honest. Honest Burgers are a newish chain of restaurants and boy, do they make a mean burger. After trotting around shopping for hours, my friend Amy and I decided to have a burger break (the best kind of break) and stepped inside Honest for the first time. 

The menu here is pretty straight forward. The focus is on the burgers and you can have your choice of chicken or beef. Naturally, we both chose the cheeseburger because we're addicted to dairy and no good burger is made of chicken. Each lovingly crafted burger comes with rosemary fries which are categorically the best fries ever. The homemade lemonade is also A*, especially as it comes in those oh-so-Instagram-friendly jars with straws. 

The best part of this was the price; we got all this for a measly £11.50 each. Bargain. Compared to other burger joints in the capital this place is a hidden gem. The customer service was excellent; Amy especially approved of the handsome staff. On top of that, the friendly Twitter minions replied to my Tweets and thanked us for visiting. If you're near Oxford Street any time soon, do yourself a favour and pop in here. I will be back as soon as I can.  

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

Whatever Game of Thrones might be telling you, Winter is most certainly not coming. Spring has sprung, the temperatures are on the increase and I even went out without a coat today. All of this means that Summer is on its way and we can look forward to putting our delightful tights away (thank God) and buying clothes in colours that aren't black. Hurrah! 

I'm not sure what my Summer will be shaping up like this year. I have a long summer break (10 weeks, I know, I know) and although I'm looking forward to all the R&R, I need to fill it with something so stop my brain from melting. My best friend and I are planning an excursion to Barcelona for some culture and well needed sunshine (seriously, I have a Vitamin D deficiency) and I can't wait for the other summer adventures that are in the pipeline. 

This outfit was put together in a moment of Summer anticipation. Topshop's crepe bralets in mint and black are almost sold out online, probably because they're well priced and versatile. Pair this mint one with white (and these gorgeous sandals) for a real summer vibe.

Bralet by Topshop, Skirt by Helmut Lang, Sandals by Marni, Bag by Ted Baker